And yeah....super intriguing prospect. Definitely someone to keep an eye on, because I still can't see him going too high given his youth, mostly because the level of competition he's played.

It is all Raptor fans have, isn't it?

Although this is the first time I've ever really felt "meh" on the team.

Too bad it is not like an Office document where you can quit without saving any changes and start a new blank document.

I fail to see how Colangelo is going to sell 2 more wins over last season's pace with an addition of nearly $20M in payroll per season.

What a cluster f*ck this whole team is.

The best thing MLSE might do now is keep Colangelo and DC for next year, watch another shit year unfold, hope and pray the 2014 pick is not going to OKC, don't allow Colangelo to add any salary beyond 2015, and give the new GM in 2014-15 young talent (JV, TR, 2014 pick) along with young veterans (DD, AJ, possibly LF) and significant expiring contracts/cap space.

The new Raptors fan dream is no longer "NEXT YEAR".... it has now become "NEXT THREE YEARS". What a mess.

Although this is the first time I've ever really felt "meh" on the team.

Too bad it is not like an Office document where you can quit without saving any changes and start a new blank document.

I fail to see how Colangelo is going to sell 2 more wins over last season's pace with an addition of nearly $20M in payroll per season.

What a cluster f*ck this whole team is.

The best thing MLSE might do now is keep Colangelo and DC for next year, watch another shit year unfold, hope and pray the 2014 pick is not going to OKC, don't allow Colangelo to add any salary beyond 2015, and give the new GM in 2014-15 young talent (JV, TR, 2014 pick) along with young veterans (DD, AJ, possibly LF) and significant expiring contracts/cap space.

The new Raptors fan dream is no longer "NEXT YEAR".... it has now become "NEXT THREE YEARS". What a mess.

This has basically been how I've felt since the Gay trade. At first, in the honeymoon phase, it seemed like their was more promise than I thought. But yeah, I think this team has little chance of doing anything special, and if they go all-in (which they are sadly not at yet), it'll just screw them down the road.

How sad is it that it's not even about "next three years", but about "dear God I hope BC is gone in the next year or two, because otherwise three years is probably not long enough"?

Although this is the first time I've ever really felt "meh" on the team.

Too bad it is not like an Office document where you can quit without saving any changes and start a new blank document.

I fail to see how Colangelo is going to sell 2 more wins over last season's pace with an addition of nearly $20M in payroll per season.

What a cluster f*ck this whole team is.

The best thing MLSE might do now is keep Colangelo and DC for next year, watch another shit year unfold, hope and pray the 2014 pick is not going to OKC, don't allow Colangelo to add any salary beyond 2015, and give the new GM in 2014-15 young talent (JV, TR, 2014 pick) along with young veterans (DD, AJ, possibly LF) and significant expiring contracts/cap space.

The new Raptors fan dream is no longer "NEXT YEAR".... it has now become "NEXT THREE YEARS". What a mess.

the term that keeps coming to my mind. We need a lot of luck to make it out of this financial/talent level mess alive.

It's a very sad mess that us Raptor fans have to watch. Usually off seasons are exciting but this one is going to be dreadful (as pointed out in a different thread). The top 3 pick in my opinion is going to be untradeable. For teams looking to shed salary, taking on guaranteed money for a top 3 pick who may just end up being a rotational piece is not worthwhile.

If the Raptors do get in the top 3, they should be going after the guy with the most potential, and in my opinion that's Noel. Although I doubt BC would touch him because of his injury. After that perhaps McLemore because of the dearth of SG's in the league. I would choose a player that I think can be flipped for someone else, and not specifically someone that should be playing on the team. If I had to get a guy that might actually be able to play a few minutes, then probably Smart. However for some reason I see Smart ending up as a decent backup in the league and not a guy that will be starting.

Pump the breaks for second. You see a post about wingspan and you suddenly think, "Hey that reminds me of this great article on natural selection I read about a husband and wife ornithological team in western Nebraska."
???

It was just like you stated except that I heard it first the day before on the CBC science program Quirks and Quarks while driving home from work and then made the bizarre connection with Ben McLemore's wingspan which is 6'7", actually a very "normal" wingspan for someone that is 6'4" tall. Yes, I know there are many Marfan type freaks in the NBA with Inspector Gadget like arms.

Anyone who wants to trade demar i respectfully think you are STUPID. What more could you ask of this guy? He is continuing to develop every assest of his game. There was so much talk that all demar does is score and now hes learned to pass and start to become a play maker. His shot is always improving, the dude is a gym rat and not to mention he loves being in Toronto and playing here. Demar is a pro and continues to get better every damn day.

IMO our wing positions are set with Gay, DD, ross and fields (i believe in fields he is a great player minus his shot, once he get that fixed which i believe he will he will be a very positive assest to this team.) Fields is a good defender, great slasher and above average rebounder those 4 fill our wing spots perfectly in my opinion. We are a few pieces away and some development of our young players away from being a good team. We need a good veteran big (4 or 5.)

If we somehow got a top 3 pick i would be happy to pair noel with JV but he would have to come off the bench and we would need a veteran C as well. Other thing i would do is ship AB with the pick for a mid pick 10-15 and draft trey burke and say bye bye bargs.

Ideally if we draft burke and add a quality veteran big man i would be very pleased with this team and its bright future. Jv is already starting to payoff and stop playing like a rookie and i will make a guarentee that with a summer of work Ross is going to be a great scorer next year at worst. Future is brighter than we all think.

After watching Burke in this tournament i'm convinced he's the best PG in this draft.

1. Burke
2. Noel
3. Bennett

There's a lot of good quality PG in this draft. I'm still a big fan of Smart, and i really like Shane Larkin a lot. Michael Carter-Williams has tons of potential. Myck Kabongo isn't too bad either.

OKC will get our pick this year so we have no chance of getting Burke or Noel but i really hope Colangelo trades for a mid 1st round pick and draft a Larkin or a Carter-Williams or that 6'10 PG from Greece, Adetoukobo.

No way Burke is going to be 1st overall. Yes, he's good and yes he could benefit a lot of bottom teams, but I can't see anyone picking him as a 1st overall. In my opinion he'll be in top 3-7.

Amazing how stock soars this time of year.

Last month he was about 15-17 at DraftExpress. He is now ranked 10th. I imagine he'll go up some more but I don't think much higher than 7th... but I have nothing to base that on other than worthless opinion.

Personally, I really like him. I've liked him all year (he and Otto Porter). Think Burke is the best PG in the draft. Smart might be a better athlete but I think Burke is a better player and PG. He is small but he does have a 6'5" wingspan.

An interesting possibility. Definitely one "star" situation to keep an eye on. FWIW, if anyone was wondering, this is the only kind of deal where I'd happily trade Demar: for a young, all-star calibre player who can be a fixture next to JV for years.

I've actually been wondering about this sort of potential deal as well. If the Raptors' pick goes to OKC this year, then I wonder if a package of DeRozan & Bargnani & 1 or 2 future 1st round picks for Love & Ridnour & Williams (to balance salary) could be enough to at least make Minny consider it? Assuming Love really isn't happy in Minnesota...

I've actually been wondering about this sort of potential deal as well. If the Raptors' pick goes to OKC this year, then I wonder if a package of DeRozan & Bargnani & 1 or 2 future 1st round picks for Love & Ridnour & Williams (to balance salary) could be enough to at least make Minny consider it? Assuming Love really isn't happy in Minnesota...

I think if instead of Williams (I know you mentioned it to balance salary) because I doubt they give up a young guy like that, some other filler was there, they'd be very open to it. He's been playing pretty well with Love out, and if not develop into an all-star, is starting to look like he could be a solid player.

But, moving on from that specific scenario, and just addressing the concept, I do think a package that includes Demar and 1 or 2 1st round picks is the start of a deal that could bring back an all-star. The rest of the deal would be someone like Bargs, who I think is fairly likely in a Love scenario, but might not be in others, as he would likely provide some financial relief, even if it's just similar to Chicago(and Boozer), where it's just to get under the tax threshold not necessarily free up space immediately.

Another strong possibility is Lowry, who is expiring next year. I think Lowry + Demar + 1 or 2 picks could also bring back an all-star. FWIW, the situation I'd keep an eye on there is Boston. If KG decides to retire, I can see them gutting the roster. They can pretend they can quick rebuild around Rondo, but they won't have any high-calibre players beside him and likely stuck in a mediocrity cycle of low-playoffs and high lottery exits, on top of which Rondo will probably never get to 100% next season. Doc loves Demar, and I do believe Ainge would gut the roster to give tanking a shot next year if he thinks playoffs are going to be even harder than this season.

The new Raptors fan dream is no longer "NEXT YEAR".... it has now become "NEXT THREE YEARS". What a mess.

And this is why I was so gung ho on firing Colangelo when Bosh left. It was the perfect time to re-boot everything. At the time, I pointed out that it wasn't just a two or three year committment to Colangelo and his plan but more likely a 5-7 year commitment. We're now down year 3 and in no better shape than 3 years ago. Except, now you have an ownership and fan base reluctant to pull the chute and rebuild properly because of all the losing in the interim. The franchise is in no-man's land.

That's why it's so important to clean house now. Like yesterday. Every year you wait isn't just one year. It's two or three or four years you have to spend cleaning up the mess.

After watching Burke in this tournament i'm convinced he's the best PG in this draft.

1. Burke
2. Noel
3. Bennett

There's a lot of good quality PG in this draft. I'm still a big fan of Smart, and i really like Shane Larkin a lot. Michael Carter-Williams has tons of potential. Myck Kabongo isn't too bad either.

OKC will get our pick this year so we have no chance of getting Burke or Noel but i really hope Colangelo trades for a mid 1st round pick and draft a Larkin or a Carter-Williams or that 6'10 PG from Greece, Adetoukobo.

I'm definitely a fan of Burke, the guy has a lot of good skills already.